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What are we actually doing to help our homeless community members?

Updated:
April 12, 2019, 9:02 p.m.

Dear Editor,

We have seen a lot of discussion and committees about the
homeless population in Turlock, however, we don’t feel like the unhoused
population is being properly cared for. Any local can talk about the visible
rise of homelessness, and we as a community can keep discussing the issues, but
what are we doing to help?

Scarcity of resources is clearly at the root of the issue,
contrary to the stigma that assumes our homeless population are a group of
individuals that became homeless due to drug and alcohol addiction. Many of our
homeless population are associated with being unemployable, dirty,
drug-addicted, or criminal. While addictions can indeed lead to homelessness,
especially when the vice of choice becomes a priority over employment or
housing costs, it’s more likely that an individual becomes homeless due to not
having financial resources to maintain or obtain adequate resources.

After doing some research on what kind of mental health and
medical health care is available, it’s astonishing to find how few homeless
outreach programs there are within the community. From experience, finding a
doctor in Turlock requires a long wait, and finding a mental health provider is
difficult as providers are scarce. There aren’t enough resources to care for
our community.

While mental and medical health, and addictions may be
factors, other factors include the lack of affordable shelter or housing. The
amount of money it takes to place a deposit, first month’s rent, application
fees, etc., is more than what most common residents in the Central Valley can
afford. Many citizens live paycheck-to-paycheck and have financial obligations
regarding their families and cost of living expenses. If a rent increase is
necessary, then let’s also increase individual pay to include cost of living
adjustments. One Turlock apartment, which one of us penning this letter lived,
had increased the monthly rental rate from $740 to $1,075 over a few years. We
would love to find an employer willing to raise their employee’s pay to
accommodate that $335 monthly increase, but that’s not happening.

Attempting to normalize life, we see many of our homeless
population building shelter, which is often torn down by city officials and law
enforcement. Recently, we’ve seen articles and videos of Turlock parks being
cleaned up or cleared out, which has continued the cycle of displacing our
homeless population. A recent quote from our Mayor stated that parks were being
returned to the community, but at the expense of who? The other part of our
community? Because the last time we checked: having a home is not a
prerequisite to being part of the community. So, what are we doing for our
community?